It’s official: CBS is moving “Hawaii Five-0” from its Monday slot at 9 p.m. (10 p.m Mainland) to Friday night at 8 p.m.
So the rumors have been true. And in the new environment, there will be less pressure and fewer worries about numbers and rankings. Perhaps less stress, from one standpoint; so maybe the show will find its inner strength and grow and improve and, well, become a reborn project.
The Hawaii-based show, earlier renewed for a fourth season based on a previous TNT syndication, dodged cancellation because of the deal. This, as the procedural struggled somewhat and see-sawed for ratings stability opposite ABC’s “Castle,” which most often prevailed. NBC’s “Revolution” was third, though yanked for months during a mid-season hiatus, with its own ratings and viewership issues.
The repositioning on Fridays, sandwiched between “Undercover Boss” and “Blue Bloods,” is considered the death knell for under-performing shows.
It’s a neighborhood where figures and standings matter a skosh, but not like on other nights when competition is fierce and viewership soars.
Fridays, alas, is construed as the glue factory for thoroughbreds which have lost their glory in the horse race. TV critics are not silent about this positioning, and may have already wiped off "Five-0" as a contender and competitor this early in the game. While the move may benefit “Five-0,” it could also diminish its strength, eliminating a fifth season lifeline. Only time — and performance — will decide.
When “Five-0” vacates the Monday position this fall, the replacement show on CBS will be “Hostages,” with 15 episodes airing through January; then “Intelligence” assumes the slot for 13 episodes through June. Comedies will continue to precede the new dramas.
On Fridays, “Five-0” will compete with these shows: “Shark Tank” on ABC and “Grimm” on NBC.
Strange bedfellows: shark infestation (not literal sharks) and an element of the grim.
Hmmmmmmm...

Fridays are bad. "Friday Death slot " or where underperforming shows are dumped to die.

CSI NY was not dumped on Fridays until Season 7 , while Hawaii 50 is getting there in Season 4. Only that says that CSINY was a stronger show and thanks to that still survived 2.5 more seasons on Friday. I doubt the same will happen to Hawaii.

Some shows are made to be Friday shows, as Ghost Whisperer or Blue Bloods or Numb3rs. Those shows are usually cheaper shows to make because advertisers don't pay much for Fridays.

But Hawaii 50 was made to be a big megahit, very expensive show , action packed and a lot of guest stars week after week. A show to air in a good slot that advertisers paid well, as a Monday, not in a cheap Friday.

The question is "Can they find a new show that’s cheaper to make than Hawaii 50 and that can do as well on a Friday ?" The answer is yes, no doubt, and that will be bad for Hawaii 50. The show may do OK in a Friday, but OK may not justify the high costs.

And any CBS show that survives 4 seasons get syndicated. So when they reach that point, syndication is not the reason to keep giving the show more seasons.

Since it relates perfectly to this segment, I am reposting my comment from the last article to here:

OK. I have been doing a little investigating. H50 will be up against Shark Tank and Grimm. Shark Tank I checked and it has been winning the time slot all the time. However, as is with Friday numbers, it is with weak ratings. But weak ratings are tolerated and expected on Fridays. What will make this all interesting for me is that all three (H50, Grimm, and Shark Tank) have around the same demo right now. So it will depend on what people would rather see live.

I love Grimm but I always tape all my shows. The Grimm folk are faithful to their show. I never followed Shark Tank but it has been winning the time slot so it obviously has its viewers also. Some people argue that the lead in show is very important. Me, I don't necessarily agree. If I want to watch say, Undercover Boss on CBS from 8-9 PM but I like the show Grimm, I can, and will, change the channel to Grimm. I won't just watch H50 because I have gotten soo lazy as to not lift the remote and change the channel for another show I prefer to watch.

I know there are people out there that "just leave the TV on" but I believe that group are not steady viewers and one week they may leave the TV on but the next 3 weeks they don't. So for me, the "retentionista" crowd (those who believe the lead in is all important) aren't right in their overall belief. JMO

Friday doesn't necessarily mean the end to the show, because when it makes syndication, and with less pressure on Fridays for high ratings, it could survive longer. Blue Bloods has been on Fridays with worse ratings than H50 but it is also heading toward syndication and is surviving.

I read in an article that when a show does mediocre on a Friday and is in syndication then a lot of the times its survival can depend on something as simple as the new pilots presented for the following year. If CBS gets a lot of good ones, they could can H50. IF they get a "not so great" group of pilots, H50 could stay. The Mentalist was in its 5th season and moved to Sunday night and not doing really well there but at the last minute was renewed because there weren't a lot of good pilots to replace it.

CBS has a lot of new shows BUT only one new drama this season. New dramas are the only thing that needs to be looked at. Comedies replace comedies and dramas replace dramas.
So there weren't a lot of new dramas on CBS this season that made it to air. Next season, that could change. In fact, I would argue that CBS is DUE for a slew of new dramas next season as it has many aging dramas on this season.

So, if H50 doesn't improve in ratings and and good drama pilots show up next year that CBS likes, I predict that would end H50.

Having said that, I did enjoy the last two episodes better then any of them in a while. They have brought in two new writers. If they begin to write better scripts and stop being all over the place and starting new possible storylines and then leaving them up in the air, they could have more than one season left.

I also believe it will be Grace that leaves the show. Sadly they underused her and overused the Kath character in her place. I am sorry but that character was so undefined and her antics far from realistic, it ruined that character for me.
But I do believe that that is what will happen. Kono will leave and Cath will take her place.

Jacob, I don't know how syndication works. But seeing what happened to The Mentalist, which did poorly this season on Sunday night, but was renewed anyway because it was syndicated a year ago, tells me that with each new episode that will be syndicated, the network gets more money; possibly enough to make up for the cost of producing the show.

Of course, TNT may not WANT to buy more episodes if the ratings continue to tank.

But I really don't know much about how syndication works, so if anyone does know, I would like to learn about more about it because it will be a big part of how H50's future will be decided.

And I agree. H50 is much more costly to produce than The Mentalist. So if H50 ends up in the same spot The Mentalist did, it may not make it for another season based on the fact that the cost of producing it is significantly higher.

What do you mean, D Man? I imagine advertisers pay less for slots on Fridays because the viewership tends to be lower and isn't the demo they like. The young are out on Friday nights. Is that what you mean? Or something else?

The most expensive night for advertisers is Thursday. Tuesdays are big also. I don't know why they worked that out but that is where the competition is fiercest. I got that over the years of following this stuff.

I have just found the ratings race fascinating so I have learned these things. Stupid obsession I have, isn't it? LOL

I was just thinking if the move to Friday is to absorb lower ratings and viewership, is the network also telling the show that their budget is going to get cut to make up the difference?

I can see where that would be tough to do if they held their Monday night slot. I mean, they would need to give it their best shot with all the car chases, pyrotechnics, gunfights, etc. Gotta fund that stuff to make the show "competitive".

I guess I am wondering if the network is also saying, "look, just be happy we are keeping you around, now come up with some storylines that don't include all that extra expense because that stuff is history!"

I seem to remember a show in the 9:00 eastern time (8:00 Hawaii) on Friday night that was a super mega hit for CBS after it was moved from Sunday night where it started originally. Remember a little known TV show called DALLAS?

Well I hope this will help 5-0 in the ratings next season. Wow 2 shows in one night with Hawaii connections as we all remember Tom Selleck as Magnum PI. Now 5-0 just has to get some more loca storylines like how about a murder at the Merry Monarch Festival to show the music and dance of Hawaii or maybe something going wrong up in Kileaua Volcano or the entertainment scene in Waikiki and feature many of Hawaii's best!

Dolores, unfortunately in the Dallas days there was very little competition (no cable TV) and shows were allowed a few years to grow and given second chances. There were basically 3 channels to watch, not hundreds.

Dman, you make a very good point. Wow! That would change the dynamic of the show, wouldn't it? It would probably be the end of it for sure if they took away all the expensive stuff since that seems to be all it has going for it right now.

Maybe CBS said to cut out the expensive stuff and actually write interesting stories instead. Just saying.

Fridays pay less but that doesn't mean the budget will get cut by much. That's where the tax credits come in to play. How else can you explain a show like Nikita which gets woeful ratings even for CW show on a Friday to keep going with the same type of material?

It will be interesting to see what happens. Nikita was only renewed for 6 more episodes. But we really don't know how much the tax credits are and HI and Canada (where Nikita is mainly filmed) have different tax credits of course.

CBS has much higher expectations for its shows as far as ratings so where the CW (which is affiliated with CBS) always has low ratings it has to keep the best that it has.

Nikita I believe is on its last leg even there, though.

CBS, OTOH, is the #1 network and they won't tolerate CW ratings for any of their shows.

I bet it depends on where CBS wants to put its money. From past experience, it seems that CBS will pour much more money into its new dramas to attract viewers.

H50 is going to hit syndication and CBS has given it every chance to grow. I think they will now just let things happen and if they can't raise the ratings up enough and new dramas are offered for 2014-15 that CBS likes, H50 will reach syndication and get canceled.

So I think we are back to; improve the writing and the ratings or good-bye after season 4.

Like I said before, improving writing might satisfy the critics but I wouldn't hold my breath on seeing the ratings go up much because of it. Who's to say that there aren't a few million who might get turned off and tune out by something that makes the critics jump up and down about?

As long as the ratings don't totally tank next(less than 1.4 in the demo) year, I can see H50 sticking around for at least season 5 too. No one is going to convince me that syndication hasn't helped shows like Castle and Bones in the ratings now that both shows are in syndication. CBS may just keep H50 around another season to see if syndication helps steady out the ratings. The more inventory they build up the better the sale when they sell the syndication package to networks.

CBS won't care if H50 doesn't win the night; as long as it holds its own as it is now. That is what syndication does for a show.

However, I do agree that if it gets way down there, like CW ratings, CBS can't keep it going for a fifth season.

If, however,The Mentalist and The Good Wife and Blue Bloods, all of which did poorer than H50, continue to do worse than H50, they will go before H50 does.

Maybe for H50 to be cancelled,it has to actually TANK in season 4. More importantly than losing the time slot it is in, it would need to be at the bottom of the CBS ratings pile of dramas to get canceled.

Here are the standings of CBS shows this season. You will see that BB, TM, and TGW all were lower than H50 but were all three renewed because TM already has syndication and TGW got syndication this year and BB is getting it next season, like H50.

H50 has to be worse off than those 3 other shows, I believe, for it to be on the chopping block next year.

I wonder if (yeah I know, that's a BIG "IF")the series is able to rebound in the ratings, with better writing, would the network try to move it again next season? Or is that too far-fetched at this point?

DMan, I think they aren't going to move it at this point. They will probably want to give the new drama its chance in H50's old spot. Then maybe they will have a second look at things midseason and IF H50 improves a lot, who knows?

But remember, they have one new drama that starts in the fall where H50 is and then another new drama that will take over the spot mid season.

I can only see H50 moving to Sunday but not mid week, even if it does improve. Because then it will be up against real competition and probably sink.
I think CBS wants it to go on for a few more seasons because of the TNT deal and the international market, so they will probably keep it on the easier Friday nights for longevity.

The original HF0 had also been moved to Fridays at the beginning of its eighth season (Sep 75). After three months opposite The Rockford Files it was moved back to Thursdays, the day the series premiered on in Sep 68. (After three months the series moved to Wednesdays in Dec 68.)

The longest the original stayed in the same time slot on the same day was almost four years (Dec 75-Nov 79) on Thursdays at 9:00 ET/PT. It had also been on for four years on Tuesdays (Sep 71-Sep 75) although in two different time periods.

The final season (Sep 79-Apr 80) was regularly broadcast on three different days: Thursdays, Tuesdays (back in its 1974-75 time period at 9:00 ET/PT) and Saturdays.

The series had been seen regularly on every day except Sundays and Mondays.